Juris Viļums

Former CIA Director David Petraeus: With Budanov now heading the Presidential Office, Zelenskyy has someone close to him who deeply understands the military situation and ongoing operations. I know Budanov well. He is very direct in his assessments. We first spoke by video when he was near the russian border, commanding one of the first operations on russian territory. Petraeus in an interview with SpyCast: Ukraine has the largest and most innovative army in Europe. It is doing what NATO armies would otherwise have to do themselves if russia achieved its objectives in Ukraine. Moldova would be next, and possibly Lithuania after that. During my recent visit to Ukraine, a russian jet-powered drone struck the locomotive of a train on the track next to ours. The passengers on trains leaving Ukraine are mostly women and children. It was terrifying for them. Russia has suffered 1.5 million killed and wounded, more than the United States suffered during the entire Second World War. Last month alone, Ukraine estimated approximately 46,000 russian casualties, while russia recruited only around 30,000 soldiers. New recruits receive very little training. Ukrainian forces have captured russian soldiers who had been in the army for less than two weeks. They are practically cannon fodder. Ukraine has struck every russian oil refinery within 3,000 kilometers of its border, many of them multiple times. Russian oil production has fallen below 9 million barrels per day for the first time since 2009. Russians now use smartphone apps to find gas stations that still have fuel. The National Welfare Fund has been redirected toward the military-industrial complex and is expected to run out by the end of the year. It is time for Europe and the United States to seize frozen russian reserves and provide them to Ukraine. We tend to assume that Ukrainians are far ahead in military innovation, just as we assume the United States leads in artificial intelligence. But when you look closely, the gap is not always that large. In some areas, the russians have developed capabilities before the Ukrainians. China, North Korea, and Iran are carefully studying what is happening in Ukraine. The West needs to learn from Ukraine much faster. Simply buying drones for existing tank units is not enough. We need to fundamentally rethink our military structures because many traditional Western weapons systems would no longer survive on the Ukrainian battlefield. And we need to do this immediately. The Ukrainian people have demonstrated extraordinary resilience. They have been absolutely unbreakable despite enormous pressure. But they are also exhausted, and another difficult winter lies ahead. Source: SpyCast